In Search of Spiritual

In the article "In Search of the Spiritual" the author Jerry Adler, he compares American society's view of religion in the 1960s to now. Adler makes clear that in some aspects, the American sociological composition has differed greatly from the 1960s to now. Then again in some aspects, there has not been that much difference in terms of the American societal view towards religion and spirituality: "Of 1,004 respondents to the NEWSWEEK/Belief net Poll, 45 percent said they attend worship services weekly, virtually identical to the figure (44 percent) in a Gallup poll cited by Time in 1966 (Adler, 2005)." Yet, Adler does use the sociological perspective of comparing different social contexts to explain how there are some differences.

He focuses on how different and diverse sections of American society have changed towards religion. For example, Adler suggests that the African- American community in today's social setting differs in their view of the church playing a role in social advancement, part of the reason why there might be some difference in the conditions of church attendance between then and now. He suggests that attendance may be due to being asked to speak in other churches. Upon reading this the first thought that came to mind was the African- American community is now welcome in other communities. I know that there are still African- American churches and they still worship and preach the same and may feel more comfortable to go wherever they please.

Adler later on talks about the Muslim culture and states that they feel "forced to define themselves in the face of an alien--and, in recent years, sometimes hostile--majority, the second generation especially has turned increasingly observant. Unlike their parents, they may attend mosque several times a week and pray five times a day, anywhere they can unroll a prayer mat (Adler, 2005)." He brings up a good point. Muslims even worship different now than they do back home. I know that most will attend a Muslims church and stick to their beliefs in America, but do not pray five times a day on a mat. While I served in the military overseas, I was able to talk to a lot of other sailors about things that they saw and experienced in other countries. One of the things I was told was that even when Muslims are in military prisons they are allowed to worship and continue to stick to their rituals of prayer five times a day and sticking to the sun patterns. However, they feel like once they come to the United States they are not necessarily forced to change their identity, but they feel like they should adapt to modern ways. By skipping the rolling of the mat out and prayer five times a day, they feel more modern and up to speed with things.

Adler uses this sociological analysis of both societies, America then and America now, to examine how there are some differences in religious worship such as options and avenues to pursue. He states people under 60 years old describe themselves as spiritual rather than religious. Americans used to refer to themselves as religious people but as time went that also changed.